The Assignment
by Casie01
Summary: "Where were you on September 11th?" It was a simple question with a complicated answer. A high school history assignment takes the BAU back to the day the world changed. Future Fic set in September 2021. Pre Established Jotch. Features the entire team.
1. The Assignment

**A few years ago I wrote a A/U story about the team and 9/11. I've had this story in my mind for awhile now. The idea came from a similar assignment I had when I was in high school. In my history class we had to interview someone who was alive during WWII and someone alive during The Vietnam War. Thinking about 9/11 and the current generation in high school I realized that for them 9/11 would be an event in the history books nothing that they had experienced first hand. This story is set in the future and take place just before the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 and will include all the team members.**

* * *

Friday September 3, 2021

Jennifer Jareau had just finished putting away her work files when the front door opened, the sound of teenage boys running through the house quickly followed. The sound of her boys her cue to put the work away until Monday. It had been five years since the former profiler had left the BAU, taking a supervisory position in the FBI's media department. There were days she missed jetting around the country, hunting down UnSubs with her team, but being a Mom was always her priority, and being home with her boys far outweighed the thrill of taking down the bad guys.

The boys had always said they understood when their parents left on a case, often excited to tell their friends their parents were real superhero's, but as they got older the nights and days without their parents began to weigh on the two young boys, the birthdays and holidays missed threatened to tear apart their small family. JJ had been the first to leave the BAU, and unlike being forced to leave for the State Department this move had felt right, she could still help people, could still make this world a better place for her family, but at the same time she could be there to raise her boys.

It was a year after JJ had left the BAU that Aaron Hotchner finally accepted the promotion to Section Chief, a position everyone thought would kill the man who needed action. Like his wife the change in position had been a seamless one, the time with his family worth the days spent behind a desk. Leaving the BAU had been easier knowing it was Derek Morgan who would take his position, Hotch had always known Morgan would excel in a leadership positon, and with Prentiss has his number two, the BAU had continued to flourish.

Between JJ and Hotch taking new positions in the FBI and David Rossi retiring for the second time, the BAU may have spread out but they were still very much a family, one that no other BAU team could replicate. They didn't spend their days together but managed to keep their family together in both the big moments in life and the small ones.

JJ shut her office door putting away her work persona until after the holiday weekend, ready to spend her weekend with her boys and her family. Her BAU family would congregate at the Hotchner home the next afternoon for an early Labor Day weekend barbeque, and the mother of two couldn't wait for her family to be together.

"Hi Mom!" Twelve-year-old Henry Jareau-Hotchner ran past his mother more than ready to get out of his school uniform. "Bye Aunt Jessica, tell Conner I'll text him later about the new Madden game." With barely an acknowledgement Henry ran upstairs ready to start the extended weekend, three days away from school.

JJ watched as her youngest son ran past shaking her head at the preteen. "Thanks for dropping them off Jess." When JJ and Hotch first started dating Jessica had worried what having JJ in their lives would mean for her relationship with her nephew, little had she known she would gain a new friend and surrogate nephew out of the deal.

"Anytime, I believe I saw Jack running towards the kitchen, something about him starving." Jessica knew about teenage boys and their bottomless pits they called a stomach, "We'll see you guys tomorrow afternoon." She waved as she left the other mother in search of her oldest son.

Walking into their kitchen JJ found her son digging through the pantry, "Don't eat too much Jack, Dad's picking up pizzas on his way home from work," she warned the fifteen-year-old.

Jack grabbed a bag of Cheetos before sitting at the bar watching as his Mom grabbed items out of the refrigerator. "I thought you said Dad was getting pizza for dinner?" Jack asked as he munched on the cheesy flavored snack.

Dropping the items in her arms to the counter, "He is, this is for tomorrow. Everyone's coming over for a Labor Day barbeque."

Jack shoved another chip into his mouth, "That's right I forgot."

JJ went about starting the prep work for the various potato and pasta salads she was making as Jack watched her as he enjoyed their family's favorite snack. "So, Jack how's school going?" JJ finally asked, filling a pot with water for the pasta. The boys had finished up their first week of school Jack starting his Sophomore year and Henry his first year in Junior High.

"Good, it has been easy so far but it's just the first week. My teachers have been pretty easy on us so far, the only homework we have so far is for History and it's an assignment that we have until next week to do. I can't wait for football season to start, I won't have to wear this uniform on Friday's anymore." Jack pulled on the collar of his dress shirt for emphasis, the dark blue tie had been loosened once the final bell had rung. Football games would mean he could wear his team jersey instead either a dress coat or sweater vest. He would still have to wear his slacks and dress shoes but the jersey was much more comfortable.

JJ smiled softly at the fifteen-year-old, the closer Jack had gotten to Junior High the couple had discussed their options as far as the boys' education. Public school was certainly more affordable but the seasoned agents had been concerned with the rise in crime and drugs at public Jr. High and High Schools. They had made the decision to send the boys to Potomac Academy, a private school near their suburban home. It had been an adjustment for the two preteens leaving the friends they had grown up with and acclimating to the strict policies of a private education. While both boys were thriving in their new environment that didn't stop the mother of two from worrying if it had been the right decision.

Jack told his mom about his first week of school, the teachers he was excited to have again and the ones he wasn't so excited about. JJ listened as she continued to work her way around the kitchen, asking questions about his classes, always happy to spend time with her oldest son, knowing this moments were few and far between.

"Hey Mom? Is there something I can help with?" Jack finished up a story about the soccer team realizing he hadn't offered to help the obviously overworked FBI Agent. His answer was a soft smile followed by a bowl of potatoes and a peeler placed in front of him. Jack didn't need instruction, picking up the first potato he made quick work of the brown peel.

"Mom?" Jack asked softly not sure how to broach the real reason he was spending his Friday afternoon with his Mom working in the kitchen. JJ's soft blue eyes made contact with his, "Can I ask you a question?"

JJ looked perplexed, Jack knew he could ask her anything, "Jack you know you can always ask me anything."

Of course, he knew he could ask her, he just didn't know if he should. His only homework assignment had come from his history teacher, the teacher warned them of the sensitive nature of this particular assignment. He had been warned that even years later people had a difficult time discussing what had happened, particularly people in the area they lived as so many had been affected.

Finally, he just decided to ask, hoping it didn't upset the woman he had chosen to call Mom after losing his Mom at a young age. "Where were you on September 11th?"

Of all the questions JJ thought Jack could ask this one was certainly the very last question she expected. The question froze her in place, memories from that day nearly twenty years ago flooding her mind.

Jack froze at the look in his mother eyes, he knew her mind was going back in time, instantly he regretted asking. "I'm sorry Mom, don't worry about it." He told her quickly wanting to change the subject back to their lighthearted conversation.

JJ breathed deeply shaking her head, trying to make the memories fade. "No, Jack It's ok. What made you ask about that day?"

"Mr. Nelson, my history teacher. This year it will have been twenty years since the attacks. Our generation wasn't alive when 9/11 happened, we're the first generation who can only learn about it in the history books. Mr. Nelson wants us to interview at least three people to learn what it was like that day. He says the more people we interview the more we can learn about what happened, that it was different for everyone depending on where you were when it happened." Jack explained his assignment.

JJ paused, it was hard to comprehend how much time had passed, how this was history for her boys, that this was something they would learn from books not having experienced it themselves. It seemed surreal that her fifteen-year-old would be asking about what happened on 9/11. She was grateful he would never know the horror they had lived through but to tell him about that day, about her own experience, she wondered how much to tell him, how much she cared to relive. Finally, she answered him, "Your teacher is right Jack, it was a different experience for everyone. In a matter of minutes our world changed before our eyes.

"Twenty years later and I can remember details about that day that are so mundane, things that any other day I wouldn't remember. I can still feel the warm late summer day, the way the sun felt, how the grass smelled. I remember what I was wearing, where I was when the towers were hit, when they fell, or when the Pentagon was hit. I couldn't tell you those same detail about September 10th, what we did the day before 9/11 seemed so insignificant in comparison."

Jack was curious about the day that affected his mother so much, a day that as she said had changed the world they lived in. He could barely remember what he wore last week, he couldn't imagine trying to remember what he wore twenty years from now. "Twenty years and you can still remember all that? How?"

JJ thought about his question not really sure if she could truly explain why. "You'll have moments in your life son that will leave an impact on you, moments that will stay with you no matter how many years pass by. My parents could tell you details about November 22, 1963." Jack looked at her confused. "That was the day President Kennedy was shot. My grandparents' world changed on December 7, 1941. There's events in our lives that will leave a mark on you that will stay with you, for my generation that was the day the towers fell."

"Will you tell me what happened that day?" Jack knew who President Kennedy was and he knew about Pearl Harbor but those events seemed like they were a lifetime ago, this day he could relate to 9/11 and how it shaped the world he was a part of.

JJ thought about that day, the events that shaped the person she was today, considering where to start, how much to tell. The sounds of Aarons car pulling up giving her a reprieve. That moment of pause gave the mother an idea of how to truly help her son understand the events of that day. "Jack, Dad's home, why don't we hold off on this until tomorrow that way the team will be here and you can ask them about their perspective from that day. All of us were somewhere different both in the world, and at different stages of our lives. I think that will give you the best idea of what unfolded that day and how our country and world reacted to it."


	2. Dave

**Chapter 2: Dave**

Saturday September 4, 2021

A soft cool breeze swept across Arlington, Virginia cooling of the late summer day enough to warrant starting the fire bit. The Jareau-Hotchner family gathered in the large backyard that had been the selling point of this house. In the early days, there was a swing set for the boys that would be taken down to make room for pick up soccer and football games. Last summer Aaron, with the help of Derek, had added the fire pit to their backyard. It had quickly become a favorite gathering spot for the adults, many glasses of wine had been enjoyed around the soft orange glow of the fire.

Henry was curled next to JJ, her fingers running through his soft blonde hair. The pair sharing the outdoor sofa. Aaron and Jack sitting across from them, the team surrounding the family completing the circle around the fire. Every now and then Aaron and JJ's eyes would meet across the fire, the couple smiling softly at each other, after all these years they were more in love with each other than when they first met.

The Labor Day barbeque had been a success now the pseudo family sat around the fire enjoying the final days of summer. The team had been warned about Jacks project, each ready for the questions to come. JJ and Jessica had discussed sending Henry and Conner up to Henry's room but had decided to include the younger boys. At twelve years old both boys were old enough to hear more about what had happened on 9/11.

When the conversation slowly died Jack had asked them the question they had all been expecting, "Where were you on September 11th?"

Crickets could be heard in the distance as they all contemplated what had happened that day, where they were, what they saw, what they lived through. It was Dave who finally spoke up.

"I grew up in Commack, Long Island, just outside of New York City. I was sixteen in 1968 when they started construction on the towers. I left for Vietnam in 1970 and when I came back in 1975 there they were. When they were built the were the tallest towers in the world." Rossi sounded almost Reid like stating facts about the towers. I left New York for the FBI but every time I'd go back to Long Island there they were, standing just as tall just as majestic."

"Commack was a tight knit community especially back in the 60's and 70's, a lot of guys I went to school went on to work for the NYPD and FDNY. There were people I grew up with who worked in those towers or the buildings surrounding them. Those towers were a much a part of our community has Lower Manhattans."

Dave's mind went back to that fateful day. He had retired a few years back and was working on another book. He was in Manhattan that day a meeting with his publisher would put him in the middle of history.

 _New York City_

 _September 11, 2001 8:15 a.m._

 _Dave Rossi walked down familiar streets of New York City, a native of Long Island, this city was a part of him. It was a beautiful late summer morning; the sky was a crystal blue not a cloud in sight. It was the start of what promised to be a perfect day in the city._

 _Just after eight in the morning and the city was busy as ever. Dave had come to New York for a meeting with his publisher, his second book was due to come out in a few months. He had decided for a few extra days and visit friends who still worked in the city, dinner plans for the night already set. He had decided to take advantage of his free morning wandering around the city._

 _Dave always stayed at in the same hotel, The Millennium Hilton. The upscale hotel was in the heart of the financial district, just blocks from the Twin Towers but far enough from the droves of tourists that littered Times Square and Central Park._

 _Horns honking, the soft hum of the subway, echoes of feet hitting the pavement, a lone siren in the distance; these were the sounds of the city. A symphony of noise that only true New Yorkers could appreciate, these were the sounds that guided Dave around his city. Stopping at a local coffee shop for a true New York Bagel and a cup of coffee he continued his trek not sure where he was headed._

 _Cars crashing, people screaming, the sound of a gun being fired; these were the sounds they were accustomed to interrupting the usual noise nothing could prepare them for the sounds of that day._

 _Dave paid no attention to the sound of the plane overhead, he was approaching battery park, he was looking forward to finding a park bench to enjoy his bagel and people watch. While he had retired he still enjoyed watching people and profiling their lives; once a profiler always a profiler he thought to himself._

 _The sound of metal crash and the explosion that followed grabbed his attention, people around him started screaming looking up into the sky wondering where that God-awful sound had come from. Dave skimmed the skyline in front of him, the black smoke billowing from the North Tower unmistakable. He couldn't see where the tower had been hit, or even what had caused that smoke but he knew it wasn't good._

 _8:46 a.m. he didn't notice the time but forever in history that moment was sealed. Without thinking Dave took off running towards the towers, not sure what he could do but knowing he could help._

 _It was half a mile from battery park to the World Trade center but today that distance felt insurmountable, he felt like he couldn't get there fast enough. He ran past people frozen in place staring up at the towers, shocked to see the dark black smoke billowing out of the North Tower. Taxis stopped in the roadway their drivers frozen, some saying prayer, while other's eyes locked on the towers. Rossi had to weave his way in and out of the traffic of cars and shocked people._

 _With each step towards the Towers he wondered how they would put up a fire so high up, how the people on the top floors would find a way out of the inferno. The sound of a collective gasp stopped him in his tracks, he looked up and the world seemed to freeze around him. Dave watched in horror as a second plane flew above their heads crashing into the South Tower._

 _9:03 a.m. Dave watched the ball of fire engulf the tower as the plane smashed into the building. Dave had lied to himself before that this must be some terrible accident, mechanical error, but as the second tower burned he knew this was no accident, this was a terrorist attack._

 _Dave yelled at the people around him, telling them to get out, to run. They were under attack and he had no idea what would happen next but these people needed to get out of Manhattan. He grabbed the woman next to him, shaking her to get her attention, pointing towards battery park telling her to get on the next ferry out of the city._

 _He continued his trek to the towers, pushing people towards the park as he ran. The closer he got to the towers the louder the screams became. The screams of the injured, the screams of those stuck in the towers, and the screams from the vehicles being driven by first responders._

 _The air around the towers was thick with smoke, Dave coughed as it burned his lungs. From Battery Park, he couldn't imagine the damage that had been done, but now standing under the towers it surrounded him. He watched as Firefighters ran into the buildings without hesitation, NYPD officers not far behind._

 _Dave was frozen in horror, this wasn't the New York City he loved, this looked like a war zone. He could hear the screams of people stuck in the towers above him, he felt helpless knowing he couldn't go in there, he'd be more of a hindrance then a help in there. He watched as a shadow fell from the North Tower slowly floating down each floor. He realized this was no shadow but a man who had chosen to jump from the towers rather than burn in the buildings._

 _Dave was a man of action and in that moment, he felt useless, there was nothing he could do for those people, nothing he could do for anyone. For all his FBI training, it seemed useless in that moment. He watched as a blonde woman ran out of the building blood streaked down her face. Dave ran to her pulling her out of the wreckage around them, guiding her away from the buildings. He could help this woman get to safety that much he could do._

 _Dave tore off his shirt quickly pressing it to the woman's head to stop the bleeding, he was thankful for the white undershirt. "My name's David Rossi, what's yours?"_

 _The visibly shaken woman clung to the retired FBI Agent, "My friends, I lost my friends. They were in the stairwell I can't find them." Tears streaked down her face._

 _Dave wanted to tell her they would be ok that she would see her friends again, but he didn't know if that would happen and he couldn't lie to her not today. "Every fireman and police officer in the city is coming to the towers Ma'am, they're going to do everything they can to help your friends." He told her the only truth he knew. Dave knew the resolve of the members of the FDNY and NYPD, they would do everything they could for the people trapped in the towers._

 _Dave wrapped an arm around the woman leading her away from the mess that the planes had left when they slammed into the towers. Dave started walking not sure where he was, he was having a hard time getting his bearings, trying to figure out where to take the stranger he had promised to help. All he knew was they needed to get as far from the buildings as they could._

 _It was a slow walk leaving the area ground of people all trying to escape, cars left abandoned, fire trucks and law enforcement racing to the towers. Dave had learned the woman's name was Jennifer Carlisle she worked as a trader in the South Tower. The two shared stories of growing up in the area as the slowly made their way towards NYU Downtown Hospital._

 _A loud rumbling stopped them, they turned around and watched in horror as the South Tower collapsed on its self. Floor by floor the building fell until all 110 floors were gone._

 _9:59 a.m. a cloud of dust, smoke, and debris descended on them covering everything around them in the fine white dust. In mere seconds, everything and everyone inside that tower was gone. David thought about the countless first responders who had run into the buildings, about the people who had sat in their offices, they were all gone. There was nothing he or anyone else could do for those people, Dave could only focus on getting back to his family and getting Jennifer back to hers._

 _The air was thick as the pair moved on, neither talking, neither knowing what to say. Jennifer more than likely lost coworkers, friends. Dave was sure friends he had grown up with had perished when that tower fell._

 _The city had become eerily quiet after that tower had fallen, the world around them was dark the sun covered by the smoke and debris that filled the air. If Dave didn't know better he would think it was late evening instead of ten in the morning._

 _It would take another fifteen minutes before he would hear the sound of sirens he knew they were getting close to the hospital. His mind and body were exhausted the weight of the day sitting on his shoulders like a ton of bricks. He pushed forward taking Jennifer with him, the pair wanting nothing more than to crawl into a ball and grieve._

 _The closer they got to the hospital the air started to clear the blue sky coming into view. A few more blocks and the hospital was in sight, the staff clearly busy with those who had made it out of the towers._

 _10:28 a.m. Jennifer was triaged, a low priority patient, Dave made is way out of the hospital not wanting to be in the way. Another rumble the ground shook around him. The North tower succumbed to its fatal blow less than two hours after being hit. The New York City landscape forever changed._

Jack was speechless he knew September 11th had been horrific but to be right in the middle of the horror to see first had the evil that had befallen their country. Had it not been for a school assignment he may never have known how his Uncle had survived or how he had helped save another.

Dave paused for a moment the memories of that day flooding back. For the rest of his life September 11th would be a part of him. "After the second tower fell I knew I had to get out of the city. The only way out of the city was to walk, the city was shut down.

"Everyone I passed was shell shocked, unable to believe what had happened. It took a couple hours to get out of the city, I remember finally crossing the Brooklyn bridge and turning back towards the city. Lower Manhattan was covered in smoke, it's an image I'll never forget."


End file.
